Here is our regular look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT) — done in bullet point form. Because bloggers love bullet points more than we like to debate In-n-Out vs. Five Guys (it’s In-n-Out, obviously)….

• Former No. 3 overall pick Adam Morrison, considered one of the great draft busts (he was a great college shooter who never adjusted well to the longer, more athletic defenders and contested shots of the NBA) has retired from professional basketball and is joining the Gonzaga coaching staff as a student assistant. Morrison still made $16 million and he owns a championship ring, so don’t feel too bad for him.

• That 2006 draft was the one with Andrea Bargnani at the top, LaMarcus Aldridge two, Morrison three, Tyrus Thomas four and Shelden Williams five. Farther on down the board: Rudy Gay (8), J.J. Redick (11), Rajon Rondo (21), and Paul Millsap (47). Talent evaluation is not an exact science.

• Shaq’s Beverly Hills mansion, most recently owned by a Japanese pop sensation, is back on the market. It has a basketball court out back with a Superman “S” on it.

“I mean, it’s funny, I’m not going to lie,” new point guard Jrue Holiday admitted Wednesday. “It’s funny saying it. ‘We’re the Pelicans.’ But I’ve said it about half a million times now, so I’m used to it.”

Whatever you think of the name, the Pelicans are going to be an interesting team to watch next season — they were maybe the NBA’s most aggressive team this off-season. They traded for Holiday and added former King Tyreke Evans, to pair with the impressive Anthony Davis (who quietly had a good rookie season) and Eric Gordon. They also have some shooting with Ryan Anderson.

We’ll see how it comes together, but that’s a fair amount of talent.

“[Ownership and management] want us to be competitors,” Holiday said. “Starting off this year being the Pelicans, starting off something new, I think we’re doing it the right way. … We want to make the playoffs, especially with the moves that we made.”

One thing to watch is how well the Pelicans defend. Coach Monty Williams wanted to make it a point of emphasis last season but with the talent on the roster they finished 28th in the NBA in points allowed per possession. Holiday is a good defender, Davis is a year older as a rim protector, and if they can just get up to the league average on defense the Pelicans will have a shot at the playoffs.

LAS VEGAS — USA Basketball will wrap up its four-day mini-camp on Thursday with an intra-squad showcase that will be played in front of fans at the Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of UNLV, and televised nationally on NBA TV.

The rosters have been set for what is essentially an All-Star game where the players will actually be going all out, considering that effort and team play is being evaluated above all else by Jerry Colangelo, Mike Krzyzewski, and the rest of the Team USA brain trust.

Here is the way the teams will shake out:

BLUE TEAM

# NAME

46 Harrison Barnes

36 DeMarcus Cousins

42 Anthony Davis

41 DeMar DeRozan

37 Derrick Favors

31 Gordon Hayward

22 Damian Lillard

62 Greg Monroe

34 Klay Thompson

51 Dion Waiters

26 Kemba Walker

50 John Wall G

Coach: Tom Thibodeau, Chicago Bulls

WHITE TEAM

# NAME

24 Ryan Anderson

20 Mike Conley

25 Andre Drummond

33 Kenneth Faried

29 Paul George

27 Jrue Holiday

23 Kyrie Irving

35 DeAndre Jordan

32 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

21 Ty Lawson

39 Chandler Parsons

38 Tyler Zelle

Coach: Monty Williams, New Orleans Pelicans

NBA TV will air what is officially called the 2013 USA Basketball Showcase Presented by Nike onThursday, July 25, at 6 p.m. Pacific.

They were a middling team capable of making the playoffs but without the proven ability to win a series unless the opponent’s top player was injured. Their roster had limited flexibility, and two starters, Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala, were aging.

The 76ers didn’t necessarily need to make a high-risk, high-reward move, but that was certainly a defensible plan, and that’s what they did. Obviously, it didn’t work, and the previous front office, including President of Basketball Operations Rod Thorn, was pushed out.

RT:We went for the stars when we went after Bynum. And it didn’t work out. And we gave up a ton of assets. Not only players, but we lost Iguodala, who was a terrific player. We lost (Nic) Vucevic, who was the second-best rebounder in the NBA. We lost (Maurice) Harkless, who has a chance to be a very good player, and we lost a future first, probably. Not for sure. But (Orlando) has the right for three years, if the first is not in the Lottery, they have the right to take it for three years. Now, chances are, it won’t be in the Lottery, and then we’ll have to give them two seconds. But we had accumulated assets. We made a major move, and it didn’t work out. Bynum never played a minute for us. And now he signs with Cleveland, and we gave up four major assets. That’s tough to overcome. And obviously the ownership was upset about the way the season went for us, and they got other people. It’s (not) a personal thing. They treated me great. I don’t have any problem with them at all. They wanted me to stay in an advisory position. But whether it’s pride or whether it’s ego or whatever, I just don’t like the way it ended. I’ve been in the league 50 years. I’ve done some pretty good things; some other things, not so good. But I’ve done some pretty good things. And I’d like to end it up on the right note. And that’s what it is for me more than anything…knock on wood, I’m relatively healthy, and I think I can help them in some ways. I’m looking forward to it.

In that same article, Aldridge also spoke with new 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie – an extremely revelatory look into Hinkie’s thinking, considering how little he’d shared with the media prior – and this quote stood out. Hinkie, via Aldridge:

“From the first time I met the owners, they were very clear about where they wanted, and the kind of organization they wanted to build, and the kind of team they’d be proud of, and the kind of team they wouldn’t,” Hinkie said. “I’ve only thought about getting to there. It’s just a league that doesn’t reward treading water. And so sometimes you have to take some risks, and sometimes some risks are smarter to take for some teams, and less smart for other teams.”

This seems hypocritical of the 76ers owners, but it’s not. They trust Hinkie, not Thorn.

And that makes sense.

I liked the Bynum trade. I loved the Jrue Holiday trade. Nerlens Noel, if healthy, was by far the best prospect in the draft. In the meantime, his injury will help the 76ers secure a top 2014 pick, and the Pelican’s first rounder could be high, too.

That’s a great risk on Hinkie’s part – as long as his bosses trust him.

LAS VEGAS — The Warriors wrapped up Las Vegas Summer League on Monday with a 91-77 win over the Suns to take home the first ever championship trophy in the event’s history.

Undrafted rookie Ian Clark was named the game’s Most Valuable Player, after putting on a red-hot shooting display that netted him a game-high 33 points in 28 minutes, 19 of which came in the second quarter.

“My teammates kept looking for me,” Clark said afterward. “I made sure I spaced the floor out to let guys like [Kent Bazemore] and [Draymond Green] do what they need to do. And if they needed me, I’d be ready.”

He was more than ready.

The 33 points was a Las Vegas Summer League high for all 61 games played, and his seven three-pointers tied an all-time record set by Anthony Morrow with the Warriors back in 2009.

This wasn’t Clark’s first Summer League go around, however, as he played for the Miami Heat’s team in Orlando the week before the Vegas event kicked off. He was equally stellar there, averaging 16.4 points per game while earning second team all-league honors.

“Definitely [it helped], getting my first taste of the NBA Summer League playing in Orlando, playing with Miami, their coaching staff also had the utmost confidence in me and let me play,” Clark said. “And I just tried to carry that over here.”

Clark is hopeful that his combined performances will be enough to earn him a training camp invite somewhere.

“Hopefully pretty good,” he said, when asked what he thought his chances were of catching on with a team for training camp. “I try not to pay attention or worry about what I can’t control. I just come out and play basketball and do what my coaches tell me to do, and play well.”

Clark played particularly well in this one. The Suns had no one to match his torrid shooting, and simply couldn’t knock down the open looks that they had to keep pace. Thanks to Clark, Golden State ended up knocking down 42.3 percent of its shots from three-point distance, while Phoenix countered with just 29.4 percent, on nine fewer attempts.

The level of play was intense if nothing else, and the fact that something even with as little meaning as a Summer League title was on the line certainly mattered to the players on both teams. The defense was fierce, especially inside, and it was clear from the outset that guys wanted to leave Vegas with the victory.

But Clark was the wild card that gave the Warriors the edge they needed to take home the title.

**********

A few final notes from Vegas Summer League:

– Kendall Marshall was benched to start the second half of this one in favor of Diante Garrett, after struggling on both ends of the floor in the first two quarters. He’s shown some signs of being able to initiate the new uptempo offense the Suns want to run this season under new coach Jeff Hornacek, but there still appear to be too many deficiencies in his game to see him getting regular minutes in the rotation next season, especially with the emergence of rookie Archie Goodwin.

– Jonas Valanciunas was named Summer League MVP, after posting averages of 18.8 points and 10.0 rebounds in four games for the Raptors.

– Here is your 2013 All-Summer League team, as announced by the NBA Monday night: